Taking a step ahead on the sensitive issue of restructuring, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in his Rail Budget spoke about restructuring the Railway Board.
He wants to do this by setting up functional directorates within the Board which will look at specific business lines.
“As a first step, cross functional directorates will be set up within the Railway Board to focus on areas such as non-fare revenues, speed enhancement, motive power and information technology. We will explore the possibility of unifying cadres for fresh recruitment of officers.
“We will also strengthen the PPP cell to improve ease of doing business with IR,” said Prabhu in his Rail Budget speech.
AK Mital, Railway Board Chairman, told media persons after the Budget that to start with there will be different multifunctional groups that will report to him.
Panel suggestionSuch a move has been recommended by several committees including the most recent one headed by Bibek Debroy.
Prabhu said the Railways’ target is to become an engine of employment generation in rail-based sectors.
“Employment generation does not mean employment in railways. With an increase in our plan outlay to ₹1,21,000 crore, it will lead to employment generation in various other projects,” explained Mital.
Staff and pension costs happen to be the largest cost for the Railways, the nation’s largest employer at present.